And lastly, that which fure your mind must

move,

My whole estate shall gratify your love:
Make your own terms, and ere to-morrow's fun
Displays his light, by heav'n it shall be done.
I feal the contract with a holy kiss, 565
And will perform, by this---my dear, and this---
Have comfort, spouse, nor think thy Lord unkind;
'Tis love, not jealoufy, that fires my mind.
For when thy charms my fober thoughts engage,
And join'd to them my own unequal age, 570
From thy dear fide I have no pow'r to part,
Such fecret transports warm my melting heart.
For who that once poffeft those heav'nly charms,
Could live one moment abfent from thy arms? 574

1

He ceas'd, and May with modeft grace reply'd; (Weak was her voice, as while she spoke she cry'd ;)

Heav'n knows (with that a tender figh she drew) I have a foul to fave as well as you;

And, what no lefs you to my charge commend, My dearest honour, will to death defend.

To you in holy Church I

gave my hand,

And join'd my heart in wedlock's facred band:

Yet after this, if you diftruft

my care,

580

Then hear, my Lord, and witness what I swear :

1

First may the yawning earth her bofom rend, And let me hence to hell alive defcend;

586

590

Or die the death I dread no less than hell,
Sew'd in a fack, and plung'd into a well:
Ere I my fame by one lewd act disgrace,
Or once renounce the honour of my race.
For know, Sir Knight, of gentle blood I came,
I loath a whore, and startle at the name.
But jealous men on their own crimes reflect,
And learn from thence their ladies to suspect:
Elfe why these needlefs cautions, Sir, to me? 595
These doubts and fears of female constancy!
This chime still rings in ev'ry lady's ear,
The only strain a wife must hope to hear.

Thus while fhe fpoke a fidelong glance she caft,
Where Damian kneeling, worship'd as she past:
She faw him watch the motions of her eye, 601
And fingled out a pear-tree planted nigh:
'Twas charg'd with fruit that made a goodly

show,

And hung with dangling pears was ev'ry bough. Thither th' obfequious Squire address'd his pace, And climbing, in the fummit took his place; 606 The Knight and Lady walk'd beneath in view, Where let us leave them, and our tale pursue.

'Twas now the season when the glorious fun

His heav'nly progress thro' the Twins had
run; 610
And Jove, exalted, his mild influence yields,
To glad the glebe, and paint the flow'ry fields :
Clear was the day, and Phœbus rifing bright,
Had streak'd the azure firmament with light;
He pierc'd the glitt'ring clouds with golden
ftreams,

615

And warm'd the womb of earth with genial beams.

It fo befel, in that fair morning-tide, The Fairies fported on the garden fide,

And in the midst their Monarch and his bride. So featly tripp'd the light-foot ladies round, 6201 The knights fo nimbly o'er the green-fword

bound,

That scarce they bent the flow'rs, or touch'd the ground.

The dances ended, all the fairy train

For pinks and daifies fearch'd the flow'ry plain;
While on a bank reclin'd of rising green, 625
Thus, with a frown, the King bespoke his Queen.
'Tis too apparent, argue what you can,
The treachery you women use to man:
A thousand authors have this truth made out,
And fad experience leaves no room for doubt. 630

Heav'n reft thy fpirit, noble Solomon, A wiser monarch never faw the fun All wealth, all honours, the fupreme degree Of earthly bliss, was well bestow'd on thee! For fagely haft thou faid: Of all mankind, 635 One only just, and righteous, hope to find : But should'st thou fearch the spacious world around,

Yet one good woman is not to be found.

Thus fays the King who knew your wickedness; The fon of Sirach teftifies no lefs.

So may fome wildfire on your bodies fall, 640 Or fome devouring plague confume

you

you

all;

Ás well view the leacher in the tree,
And well this honourable Knight you fee:
But fince he's blind and old (a helpless cafe)
His Squire fhall cuckold him before your face:

650

Now by my own dread majefty I swear, 646 And by this awful fceptre which I bear, No impious wretch fhall 'scape unpunish'd long, That in my presence offers such a wrong. I will this instant undeceive the Knight, And, in the very act, restore his fight: And set the strumpet here in open view, A warning to these Ladies, and to you, And all the faithlefs fex, for ever to be true.

}

And will you fo, reply'd the Queen, indeed? Now, by my mother's foul it is decreed, 656 She shall not want an answer at her need.

660

For her, and for her daughters, I'll engage,
And all the fex in each fucceeding age;
Art shall be theirs to varnish an offence,
And fortify their crimes with confidence.
Nay, were they taken in a strict embrace,
Seen with both eyes, and pinion'd on the place;
All they shall need is to protest and swear,
Breathe a foft figh, and drop a tender tear; 665
Till their wife husbands, gull'd by arts like these,
Grow gentle, tractable, and tame as geefe.

What tho' this fland'rous Jew, this Solomon,
Call'd women fools, and knew full many a one;
The wifer wits of later times declare, 670
How conftant, chafte, and virtuous women are:
Witness the martyrs, who refign'd their breath,
Serene in torments, unconcern'd in death';
And witness next what Roman authors tell,

How Arria, Portia, and Lucretia fell.

'675

But fince the facred leaves to all are free, And men interpret texts, why fhould not we?